Sheila writes: Those of you attending Ebertfest, a note from Chaz:We will have our annual Ebert Club Meet and Greet at the Roger Ebert Film Festival, Thursday, April 24, 2014 at 8 am - 10 am in the Illini Union, General Lounge. Also invited are the Far Flung Correspondents and writers from Rogerebert.com. I look forward to seeing you there!

Marie writes: Ever intrepid, club member Sandy Kahn
has submitted an intriguing quartet of finds involving a
series of Hollywood auctions set to begin at the end of July 2013. Sandy
has shared similar things in the past and as before, club members are
invited to freely explore the wide variety of collectibles &
memorabilia being auctioned LIVE by "Profiles in History". Note:
founded in 1985 by Joseph Maddalena, Profiles in History is the nation’s
leading dealer in guaranteed-authentic original historical autographs,
letters, documents, vintage signed photographs and manuscripts.

Marie writes: Now this is something you don't see every day. Behold The
Paragliding Circus! Acrobatic paragliding pilot Gill Schneider teamed
up with his father’s circus class (he operates a school that trains circus performers) to mix and combine circus arts with
paragliding - including taking a trapezist (Roxane Giliand) up for ride
and without a net. Best original film in the 2012 Icare Cup. Video by Director/Filmmaker Shams Prod. To see more, visit Shams Prod.

Marie writes: every once in a while, you'll stumble upon something truly extraordinary. And when you don't, if you're lucky, you have pals like Siri Arnet who do - and share what they find; smile."Using knives, tweezers and surgical tools, Brian Dettmer carves one page at a time. Nothing inside the out-of-date encyclopedias, medical journals, illustration books, or dictionaries is relocated or implanted, only removed. Dettmer manipulates the pages and spines to form the shape of his sculptures. He also folds, bends, rolls, and stacks multiple books to create completely original sculptural forms.""My work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book's internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception," he says. - mymodernmet

From the Big Kahuna: Yes, this is the front of the Virginia Theater in Champaign-Urbana, where Ebertfest is held every year. The old marquee was showing its age, and will be replaced by the time Ebertfest 2011 is held on April 27-30. Update: I read in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette that the new marquee is still in design, but park officials expect it to be a better complement to the theater's Italian Renaissance-style architecture and resemble the 1921 original marquee. When concepts are finalized, they will go before the park board for approval.